Crime and punishment in sport: Laying down the law?

By John Sinnott, CNN

Updated 1043 GMT (1743 HKT) October 9, 2012

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Where it all began – It is now nearly a year since Chelsea lost to QPR 1-0 in an English Premier League game at Loftus Road. During the game it was alleged QPR defender Anton Ferdinand swore at John Terry and made reference to the Chelsea captain's reported affair with the ex-partner of former team-mate Wayne Bridge. Terry is then said to have described Ferdinand as a "f***ing black c***".

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Beyond reasonable doubt – In July, Terry was cleared in a London court, where the criminal burden of proof is "beyond all reasonable doubt". But the English Football Association then investigated the case, and using the test of "on the balance of probabilities", came to the conclusion that Terry's defence against claims he racially abused Ferdinand was "improbable, implausible, contrived".

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Handshake snub – Back in September, Ferdinand had declined Terry's offer of a handshake when QPR met Chelsea at Loftus Road as the feud between the two players rumbled on.

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'Twatgate' – After the FA delivered the independent commission's report on the Terry case, the Chelsea captain's teammate Ashley Cole tweeted: "Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFT***S". The Chelsea and England left-back quickly issued a "unreserved apology" for his tweet through his solicitor.

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Suarez punished – In 2011 the FA had to deal with another racism case, this time handing Liverpool striker Luis Suarez an eight-match ban and a $63,000 fine after finding the Uruguayan guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.

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The end of the affair – Suarez and Evra failed to shake hands before the start of an English Premier League game at Old Trafford last season after the Uruguayan had served his ban. However, when United beat Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield in September, the pair did shake hands.

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Fine line – Questions have been raised about UEFA's sanctioning policy. Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner was fined $126,000 and banned from playing in his side's next competitive game for flashing his sponsored waistband promoting a bookmaker as he celebrated a goal against Portugal in Euro 2012. But that fine eclipsed the $52,000 fine that UEFA handed to the Bulgarian Football Union for its fans' racist abuse of England players during a Euro 2012 qualifier in Sofia in September 2011.

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Blattergate – In November 2011, FIFA president Sepp Blatter told CNN that football did not have a problem with racism on the field and any incidents should be settled by a handshake.

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Guilty as charged – The FA's Independent Regulatory Commission heard 473 cases between December 2010 and December 2011, but only two of them ended in "not guilty" verdicts.

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Call to action – Stoke City boss Tony Pulis wants the Football Association to punish Liverpool's Luis Suarez for diving. "It's an embarrassment," said the Stoke manager after a 0-0 draw at Anfield. "The FA should be looking at this."

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Story highlights

Fallout from racism case involving John Terry and Anton Ferdinand shows no sign of going away

Terry was handed a four-match ban and a $356,000 fine by the English Football Association

Fabio Capello lost his job as England coach; Terry lost the England captaincy and then retired

In the U.S. the NBA and MLS have begun to explore new ways of punishing players.

"If he has a conscience he will suffer for his mistake. That will be punishment -- as well as the prison." Fyodor Dostoyevsky

A year after QPR played Chelsea at Loftus Road in an English Premier League game there is no sign of the rancor in the racism case involving John Terry and Anton Ferdinand diminishing.

Rancor which has prompted despair from media commentators at the systematic abuse players dish out to one another, their refusal to engage in the pre-match handshake ritual and abusive tweets from players and fans alike.

Last month Chelsea captain Terry was handed a four-match ban and a $356,000 fine by the English Football Association after being found guilty of racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand.

Terry's punishment came just days after he announced his retirement from international football, claiming that England's governing body had made his position within the national team "untenable".

Prior to punishing Terry, the FA also had to deal with another racism case, handing Liverpool striker Luis Suarez an eight-match ban and a £64,000 fine after finding the Uruguayan guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.

The rights and wrongs of Suarez's punishment and of the Terry case -- should the FA, for example, have charged the Chelsea captain after he had been cleared in a court of law -- have been played out endlessly in the media and across social-networking websites like Twitter.

But Terry's punishment and his perceived bitterness regarding the way he has been treated also raises questions about the way the FA, indeed all sports organizations, punish players.

Why for example does any punitive action taken not incorporate a rehabilitation approach as recently suggested by PFA chairman Clarke Carlisle?

With black youth unemployment approaching 50 percent in some areas of London, why doesn't the FA insist that Terry spends a significant number of hours working within an inner-city community project?

The FA's position is that it is a not for profit organization and all the money that it makes goes directly back into football, either through the professional game structure or directly as investment back into the grassroots structure.

"There doesn't seem to be much appetite for creativity from the Football Association," Piara Powar, executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe, told CNN, after being asked whether a "rehabilitation" approach might be more productive in the long term.

"Rehabilitation is a fundamental principle of British justice and we still believe in it," added Powar. "That is how our justice system works and the idea of rehabilitation should be applied to English football.

"The Terry case has dragged on for so long that it has allowed for some very mixed messages to come out, so I think a rehabilitation sanction is a really good idea.

"What can we think of that allows him to feel that he is not being persecuted?"

However, one Premier League footballer has reservations about such an approach.

"I think that in principle the idea is a noble one," said the Secret Footballer, who writes anonymously about his experiences of playing in the Premier League.

"How would the FA pick an organisation or youth team without being biased?

"It's a bit like politics -- nobody is happy with the current situation but nobody seems to have a practical alternative.

"I think the FA are bound by what they can and can't do from a legal standpoint. Fines and bans are written in to contracts and players agree to the possibility of this action when they sign a specific contract with the FA.

"Most players do this anyway. Every team has a 'in the community' vehicle that it uses mainly to capture the next generation of supporters and players.

"All players take it in turn to meet the kids, answer questions, give out awards and play in a little game with them. "You won't read about that though because it isn't very interesting.

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"We're talking about punishment for racist abuse here. I certainly don't feel that coaching a group of kids for a week is a suitable punishment.

"As a parent would you want your Black or Asian child to be coached by a player that is only there because he has been charged and subsequently convicted of racist abuse? I don't think I would."

The Secret Footballer insisted that there was nothing more professional footballers hated than missing games.

"Missing games hurts footballers more than any other punishment, if we are to buy in to a zero tolerance approach, then the punishment needs to fit the crime and we should not be scared to level 10 game bans for players found guilty of racist abuse. Like Suarez."

Sanctions

In recent years it has been argued that leading sports bodies have not always been consistent in the way players, clubs and or federations have been sanctioned.

In November 2011, UEFA fined the Bulgarian Football Union $52,000 for its fans' racist abuse of England players during a Euro 2012 qualifier in Sofia in September last year.

Fast forward to Euro 2012 and UEFA fined Denmark's Nicklas Bendtner $125,800 for exposing boxer shorts adorned with the logo of an online betting company as he celebrated scoring against Portugal.

Likewise in November, FIFA president Sepp Blatter suggested that players who have been racially abused should shake hands with their opponent upon the final whistle and move on.

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Over in the United States, various different sports have been testing the water in trying to come up with different ways of punishing miscreant players.

Notably the NBA wants to penalize divers or "floppers" for repeated violations of an act the league says has "no place in our game".

Players will get a warning the first time, then be fined $5,000 for a second violation. The fines increase to $10,000 for a third offense, $15,000 for a fourth and $30,000 the fifth time. Six or more could lead to a suspension.

However, the players' association plans to file a grievance with the league office and an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, arguing that it should have been consulted first before the new rules were implemented.

That NBA approach might win the support of Stoke City manager Tony Pulis, who called for the FA to punish Liverpool striker Suarez for diving after a 0-0 draw at Anfield on Sunday.

Major League Soccer's Disciplinary Committee has also been coming down hard on cheating players in the U.S., but retrospectively

Every week the committee -- a body of five people whose names are not public -- announces suspensions and fines for actions that were not caught by the referee in the previous weekend's games.

The league owners want to change the culture of the league from being "physical" to more "creative", but the players are unhappy that the league is "re-refereeing" games.

Meanwhile, back in England, intriguingly it is understood that a "rehabilitation" approach could be considered by the FA in the future. Watch this space.